


your company

by Kayaille



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Comfort, F!Byleth, F/F, FE3H Secret Santa, mentions of panic/anxiety attack, what we in the industry term Floof
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22059073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayaille/pseuds/Kayaille
Summary: There are sometimes bad nights, for Edelgard.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 5
Kudos: 121





	your company

**Author's Note:**

> title inspo & lyrics from florence + the machine's "no choir"!
> 
> written for @mistyfdfa for the FE3H secret santa

> _ But the loneliness never left me _
> 
> _ I always took it with me _
> 
> _ But I can put it down in the pleasure of your company _

* * *

There are sometimes bad nights, for Edelgard.

She wakes up, hands tense on her blankets, breaths shallow and shuddering, and it sometimes seems like her dark, ornate bedroom looks the same as the dark, dingy cells, buried in the ground below. 

Edelgard runs her hand down her face, shoulders shaking as she breathes in (two, three, four) and out (two, three, four). Next to her, Byleth stirs, her teal hair fanned out across the pillow.

“El?” she murmurs sleepily. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Edelgard whispers back, hand automatically moving to stroke Byleth’s head. “Nothing at all, my love.”

“Doesn’t seem like nothing.” Byleth sits up and, yawning, shifts closer to Edelgard so that her head leans against Edelgard’s shoulder.  _ Like a cat _ , Edelgard thinks, and she wraps her arm automatically around Byleth’s shoulders.

“It’s just... dreams. Dreams of that time I spent locked up here. Dreams that I think I’ll never escape from, for as long as I live.” She takes a deep breath, then gazes fondly at Byleth. “But now I have you to remind me that I’m not alone.”

Byleth smiles and squeezes Edelgard’s hand. “You’re not alone, Edelgard. You already know I’ll always be with you. Do you think you can go back to sleep?”

“I don’t think so. I think I should stay up a bit longer and do something to distract myself for a bit longer.” Edelgard squeezes Byleth’s shoulders, one more time, before letting go and swinging her legs off the side of her bed. “Get some rest, my love. I don’t want my problems keeping you up as well.”

Byleth stretches her arms above her head and exhales. “Nothing to it now, since I’m up.” She tilts her head to one side, and Edelgard resists the urge to tame the messy bedhead that her wife just never manages to get rid of. “I’m just curious but... do you remember our days at the academy?”

“Well, of course.” Edelgard laughs. “How could I forget them?  _ My teacher. _ ” Edelgard vividly remembers their meeting, the endless battles, the quiet moments they spent on Sundays preparing together for missions or cooking or having meals. 

“Then, well, it’s been a while, but would you like to have some tea?” Byleth makes her way over to one of the cabinets in the room and pulls out an old storage box. “Just for old time’s sake.” She pops open the lid and pulls out a canister of Edelgard’s favorite blend, the smile on her face absolutely radiant.

Edelgard remembers those tea times especially well since--

“Very well. I accept.”

\-- she’d never been able to turn down an invitation from Byleth.

* * *

The scent of bergamot rises up from the pale, delicate teacups, and Edelgard warms her hands around the cup. They’d opted to go outside onto the balcony to sit under the moon and enjoy the night breeze. Byleth bumps open the door with her hip and places an armful of baked goods onto the tiered platter. Edelgard raises an eyebrow.

“Where in the world did you find sweets at this hour?” she asks.

“Bernadetta was up, stress-baking,” Byleth replies. “She had more muffins than she knew what to do with.”

Edelgard leans back. “I’m guessing the recent developments with trade in her territory are giving her some grief. Last I spoke to her, she did seem to be doing better, since she hit her absolute stress maximum in a meeting and told the negotiators off loudly and at length. ”

“I’ll probably want to check in on her again later, then, since once she’s brave, she needs a long time to build herself back up.” Byleth sits down with a few macaroons still in her hand and chews on them mindlessly. “Have you had any of her cookies recently? She’s been getting ridiculously good at them.”

Edelgard takes a biscotti and nibbles on it, and she feels her shoulders fall back. “No, I’ll need to try one later.”

Byleth guides the conversation, and Edelgard falls back into the habit of letting her teacher talk about whatever rises to mind-- the Empire’s new examination system for officials, ensuring the flow of aid to traditionally underfunded regions, integrating and appointing rulers to oversee the former Kingdom and Alliance. Most of their classmates, to Edelgard’s eternal relief, stayed far away from the conflict and were candidates to be appointed to positions, and only those like Felix or Ingrid or--

Dimitri.

Edelgard clenches her hand, but remembers belatedly she’d been eating something, and watches with regret as the crumbs fall onto her dress. “Oh. Goodness, I’ve made a mess.”

Byleth soundlessly hands her an identical pastry. After a beat, she asks, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’m... not sure what there is to talk about, Byleth. It’s all done, isn’t it? I suppose I should have really moved on by now.”

“The mangled remains of the biscotti say otherwise,” Byleth points out dryly.

Edelgard manages a half-smile. “That’s a fair observation. It’s just that I was thinking of Dimitri. Even at the end, even knowing what I needed to do, thinking of him still hurts. He was just as much a victim as I ever was of forces beyond his control. Another child let down by those in power who failed him..”

“Would you do anything differently?” Byleth asks.

Edelgard shakes her head. “A thousand times no. We make the choices that we make. If I doubt what I have done now, then every sin I have committed was committed in vain. I cannot allow myself the luxury of regret now. And besides--” She cuts herself off.

Byleth tilts her head to the side. “Besides?”

“I fear it’s almost too embarrassing to say, even now,” Edelgard demurs.

“‘Almost,’ El?”

Edelgard flushes, and she can feel the heat rising from her cheeks. “Well. If you wish to hear it, then I do not mind, but just... please don’t make fun of me later, Byleth.”

Byleth leans forward in her chair, cobalt eyes piercing. “I would not make fun of you, Edelgard,” she says, quiet and serious. “Not when it matters.”

She maintains eye contact, and Edelgard takes heart in her unwavering gaze before she sighs and acquiesces. When could she ever say no to Byleth?

“I was just thinking that I can’t regret anything if it means I end up here, with you,” Edelgard admits, staring into the distance and very ostensibly not at Byleth.

“Who taught you to be that smooth?” Byleth laughs, and the tension disappears, and despite herself, Edelgard lets out a chuckle as well.

“Must have been you, my teacher,” Edelgard teases back. “I’ve only ever been watching you, after all.”

* * *

There are sometimes nights that begin badly, for Edelgard, when she sometimes can’t sleep or see or breathe because something poisonously similar to guilt creeps up her spine and chokes her with the weight of a hundred thousand lives.

But then her beloved, warm and full of life, is always by her side, sometimes murmuring sweet nothings sleepily, sometimes stroking Edelgard’s hair with smooth, even passes, sometimes peppering small kisses onto her forehead, and the nights go better from there.

**Author's Note:**

> it's been 84 years since i wrote something *whips*
> 
> thank you to everyone producing edeleth content you give me S T R O N K


End file.
